THP needs internal affairs division

Gov. Phil Bredesen said last week he believed the job the Tennessee Highway Patrol did in investigating one of its own shows the agency could in the future conduct such internal probes of troopers.

We beg to differ.

As a statewide law enforcement agency, the THP is rather unique. Only the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation rivals the THP in its reach across the state as a law enforcement agency and employer.

Despite Bredesen’s rosy forecast, it is truthfully uncertain whether the THP proved anything with its investigation. While we would like to give the THP and its many hardworking troopers the benefit of the doubt, the results of the probe into Lt. Ronnie Shirley is still cloaked in the secrecy of an ongoing investigation. The list of 182 individuals whose background Shirley allegedly checked is still not public.

The THP has shown traction and a willingness to act in this situation, beginning the process last week to fire Shirley from the patrol. THP Col. Mike Walker is saying and doing all of the right things, the best those looking in from the outside can tell, in investigating what wrongdoing Shirley may have committed.

At the same time, much smaller agencies than the THP immediately call in the TBI when an internal investigation is needed of an officer potentially committing a criminal act. Despite the THP’s size and power, it conducts its own internal investigations without the benefit of even an autonomous internal affairs division common to larger police agencies in urban cities.

If Bredesen is truly going to clean up the THP as promised, an independent investigation mechanism must be established for these instances. We submit to the governor a dedicated internal affairs division is called for in the short term at least to investigate alleged wrongdoing at the THP. If that is not the answer, then some form of independent oversight must be exercised to win back the public’s trust.